Mind The Racket » L-Robhttp://www.mindtheracket.com
Don't Just Use Your Brain, Use Your MindFri, 26 Jun 2015 18:33:02 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Your weekly tennis podcast. Brodie joins either Juan Jose or Bri to have a discussion about the biggest stories, matches and players on the ATP and WTA tours.Mind The RacketnoA weekly tennis podcast recapping the biggest stories from the ATP and WTAMind The Racket » L-Robhttp://www.mindtheracket.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/itunes_logo-851.pnghttp://www.mindtheracket.com/category/l-rob/
Robson, Watson, and Making the Big Leagueshttp://www.mindtheracket.com/2012/06/robson-watson-and-making-the-big-leagues/
http://www.mindtheracket.com/2012/06/robson-watson-and-making-the-big-leagues/#commentsTue, 26 Jun 2012 17:42:52 +0000http://www.mindtheracket.com/?p=4734

It was a match that popped out the second it was drawn. Crafty veteran and Roland Garros champ Francesca Schiavone against big hitting, full of promise young Brit Laura Robson.

It was pretty clear who had the edge early on. Robson played near flawless tennis on serve. Her serve out wide on both sides was devastating, and she was getting a lot of forehands. The first shot after the serve impressed, and she dictated play wonderfully. In a blink of an eye she was up a set.

The second set was much more tight. Schiavone started to hit more to the Robson backhand, and Laura’s power was beginning to disappear. At 3-3, 0-40, it looked like Robson had the match she was looking for. But five straight points from Franny and suddenly it was a different match. It seemed at that point Schiavone knew she needed to flip the switch, and she did. Chasing balls, being creative, using the slice and she had herself a break.

Taking the set and largely steamrolling through the third set, there is no doubt that Schiavone raised her level. The problem was that Robson was unable to respond. She was at times torn whether to go for it, or focus on moving her feet and hitting a clean ball. Near the end of the third set she was able to get a break and starting hitting well again, but it was a bit too late.

Having watched these players (Robson and Watson) for a bit now, and now on back to back days, I will say this much: for two girls who seem so bubbly, likable, and similar off the court, they couldn’t have less in common on the court. And I by no means is that a bad thing.

Watson is the cool, collected, technique based hitter with athletic movements and an incredibly smooth stroke for a youngster. She doesn’t get too high, she doesn’t get too low, and just tries to go about her business, for better or worse.

Watson is the near opposite. She’s had some issues closing out matches and letting the moment get to her as a youngster, but has also shown great periods of intensity. Robson doesn’t rely on a smooth stroke, she relies on pummeling the living crap out of the ball. It’s a big serve, and an even bigger lefty forehand. She hasn’t quite found the happy medium of aggression and defense, but periods of successful aggression means she is nearly unplayable, particularly on serve.

At first glance, the answer seems easy. Seems. Watson has such a consistent stroke for such a young age, something that was even apparent when I saw her last year in Toronto. She’s got a cool head. The complete package. In a sense she is already reaching that level.

Just because Robson may be lacking in things such as mental strength and movement does not mean these are things that can be worked on and improved. The one thing that Robson has that Watson will likely never have is power, something you can never underestimate in the women’s game. Movement, and in a sense, concentration levels can be improved. Robson is still only 18, and is probably still growing. A certain Maria Sharapova hardly has the greatest movement ever seen.

The transition from junior to pro is a difficult one. It is very unlikely that we will see a player such as Sharapova come through and win Wimbledon at 17; the game has changed dramatically. The fact that Robson has so much she can improve on is a proof of her ultimate potential. Staying healthy and avoiding injuries will help, and and increased mental strength and movement on top of ever increasing pace of shot could see Robson sky rocket up the rankings over the coming years. Take note.

Did I mention Fran got hurt, and Slava was already knocked out of the tournament early?

It’s times like these where the tennis gods really test us. I mean, really? Eight women came to this tournament, four walked away. It’s not even like you can blame the length of the season. Let’s be honest here, most ladies haven’t played since November or even October.

So instead of something epic, like NoleAna, or LaurAndy, or even a badass Fran, we get USA/Belgium. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for hiked up socks, but this really isn’t what we should be having.

Q. What carries over for you moving forward? That fifth set or the struggles earlier?ROGER FEDERER: I think you got to be ‑ how do you say ‑ realistic saying like there was a big threat today. I did get lucky today. It’s important to take ‑ how do you say ‑ the right things out of this match. There was positives and negatives, obviously. But then again every player, thank God, in some ways plays different.
The next guy is a righty, big‑serving guy, nothing to do with the guy I played today. Because you struggle today doesn’t mean you’re going to struggle in the next match, too. Same thing if you win in straights; it doesn’t mean you’re going to win the next match in straights. That’s just the way tennis is.

Q. A big court. It was an important opponent. But you seemed to play with no fear out there.LAURA ROBSON: Uhm, I was a lot more nervous this morning when I woke up, uhm, in a good way. And then when I got onto the court, I was just trying to focus on not losing 6‑Love, 6‑Love. So I think I did pretty well.Q. Did Jelena offer any words of encouragement after the game, compliment you on your efforts at all?LAURA ROBSON: Like when do you mean?Q. After the match, did she compliment you at all.LAURA ROBSON: I haven’t seen her since the handshake, so no.Q. Any lingering effects from the foot injury?KIM CLIJSTERS: No, nothing that bothers me. Obviously, I still have to play with the tape. That’s something that I’m gonna have to do for a few months, I guess. You know, probably need some more checkups with scans or MRIs when I’m done in between tournaments just to make sure that it doesn’t flare up.
But the tape is something that’s going to have to be there for a while. But, no, it’s all good. Nothing to worry about.

Q. You had to wait over four hours to get on Court 1 today. What did you do in that time?
ANDY RODDICK: Play some Monopoly. Dominated some Scrabble. I watched some tennis. Watched some football. That was pretty much it.Q. Which tennis match were you watching?ANDY RODDICK: Challenger that was going on, a future back home in the States.Q. You were watching Roger’s match?ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I think everyone was watching that one.

Q. How would you sum up your experience playing under the roof and under the lights?NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It was very humid. I think Murray and Wawrinka played last year a long match under the roof and lights. They were saying how humid it is and, especially if there is a lot of people watching you, sweating a lot. It’s different conditions. Definitely different conditions. Kind of suited to my game at that moment, and I managed to go through.

How’s that for some weirdness? For a first day of a slam, the dudes were filled with more drama than people knew what to do with… and the ladies pretty well showed up, took care of business, and went home. That’s some scary stuff.

No, L-Rob didn’t win, but since this will be her only match, I figured she deserves some respect to get a pic in here somewhere. Hell, nothing else fun happened. She lost 6-3, 7-6(5) to the former world number 1. Not an embarrassing scoreline whatsoever. Sucks that she can’t get just one main draw win under her belt, but hell. Plenty of time for that.

The one major upset (notice how I didn’t use the word “surprise”) comes from Ms. French Open, Franny, who lost to big hitting Dushevina in three sets. This… really doesn’t surprise me. Or probably any die hard fan. I mean, it’s Franny. On grass. Yeah.

The only other seed to lose was the 34th seed, K-Bond, to Hungary’s Greta Arn (wut?). All others won, most in straight sets, including Kim, Venus, Nads, Justine, Shahar and Kiri. Oh, and CanWoz won too, which is a yay.

Maria Sharapova is back, and don’t have a damn doubt about it. She played basically two matches today (the first one started at 4-0) and lost a total of 7 games. Can’t comment on her play since there haven’t been streams, but watch out. Screw the whole Justine return, “I want to win Wimbledon” silliness? What about Maria? She had an insane RG, basically physically pommeled herself into the ground, and didn’t have enough in the tank for Wimbledon. The tank is full this time. Big media is going to pump you full with Justine/all Williams final crap… but what about the real return of Maria? You have been warned.

And major props go out to Laura Lump (Henman Hill… Murray Mound… Laura Lump? I mean, she’s tiny… no?…) who hung in tough against the real spoiled brat, Wicky, 7-5, 6-4. Despite the fact that I died my hair blonde, pretended to be her coach and ran down during a changeover to help her out, she just couldn’t pull out that second set. Still, 64% serving and winning 70% of first serves is something to be proud of against a big hitter. Especially when you’re 16. Hell, if she can win one match at Wimbledon, against anyone, it would be huge.

The Kief? I thought that guy was using a walker? Super pumped about crazy Oompa Loompa getting a free pass through to the main draw. And of course L-Rob, girls champion and Hopman Cup sweetheart. Oh, and she gave Dani a good run for her money last year in the main draw. Kuznetsov was the 2009 boys junior champion.

Oh, just a heads up, all Wimbledon topics are under its common short form, the postal code SW19, since I did it that way last year and I’m just gonna leave it that way. Now you know.

And poor L-Rob dropped the final, 6-1, 7-6, after admitting being pretty exhausted afterwards. Between about a thousand matches over in Perth for Hopman, as well as making the quarters of the women’s main draw doubles. Whatevs girl, great few weeks in Australia you put together, keep it going.

I have no words. What the hell dude? I watched L-Rob’s fantastic win, and I figured “game over”. Muzz had smoked everyone this week, he’ll take care of T-Rob fine. But no. And then they couldn’t even win mixed dubs, something they hadn’t lost in all week. But seriously Andy? I don’t even know. Get it together dude.

Of course, ironically, L-Rob WON her match, and she hadn’t won a set all week long. And she was bloody briliant. Smacking the ball past a serving and volleying MJMS, and really just dictating play with angles and smart shot making, and generally few errors. She’s only 15, but she’s proving she really can play with the big girls. She’s been stealing much of the spotlight this Hopman Cup, and why not? She’s even gotten a wildcard into the main qualifying draw for the Australian Open. Hells yeah.

Sort of hilarious how Great Britain has been going about this whole thing. L-Rob has played great in her opening sets, showing she’ll be able to compete in a few years, then fading away, and dropped every match. Regardless, she’s gotten people talking with her impressive play. Then big brother Muzz comes out and slams the door in the face of whoever he’s playing, and then harnessing the power of cuteness, the cuties win their mixed dubs match. Amazing. Because of it, they’re the top of their pool. They’ll play Spain in the final, who have been quietly yet surely going about their business, and will be a tough opponent for sure, as it’s pretty likely to come down to the mixed doubles match. Looking forward to it (along with getting zero sleep tonight.)

Whatever, Kohlswhatever. Russia won 2-1, but they needed a win from Igor and the mixed dubs team, after a complete thrashing of Lena to the hands of Sabine. And since I watched that, that’s what I’m going to talk about. (Not to mention, in the first couple of games of the doubles, all they did was laugh at each other. So its not like it was a super competitive, heart breaking loss or something).

SRSLY THOUGH. Girl’s got skills. Sabine came out crushing the ball, blasting huge winners, and more or less running Lena off the court after, yes, she had troubles getting serves into the service box. But BLOODY HELL, Beanie Baby (new Sabine nickname alert!) really needs to tame her wildness. In the sense that she takes huge cuts at certain balls that she just needs to get over the net. In this sense, it would be easy to see how someone putting less pace on the ball, or mixing it up more, could cause Ms. Licky some serious problems. Its not to say she needs pace to hit big, or is counterpunching or something, she fired some ridiculous 175km/h winner in the second set. She’s just sometimes reaching or over doing it, trying to blast everything, and balls end up into the net or nowhere near to a line, when it really wasn’t necessary. Regardless, when you think power in the women’s game, you usually think “the Sisters and maybe a few of the Russians”, but you can definitely add the ball crushing German to the list. If you haven’t seen her play yet, get on that shit.

And team GRRRREAT BRITAIN won! And I saw like two seconds of it, but this may be the cutest dubs team evar. Kind of get the feeling Muzz is taking on the big brother role with L-Rob who is only 15?! I for some reason thought she was like 17 or something. She managed to take the first set off of Slava Shvedova, and then only managed to take 3 games over the next two sets. Muzz won easily, and then they wrapped it up in the dubs. And damn can Laura whack a ball, considering her age. Hurry up and get old, would ya?